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If you haven’t heard yet, later this month, around the 15th of September, Nikon is rumored to announce a new camera called the Nikon D7000. It will replace the current and very popular D90 camera.

Wondering about price? Well nikonrumors.com mentioned a price point at about $1200 for the body only. Here are some basic specs for the camera, again only a rumor according to nikonrumors.com:

- Magnesium-alloy body
- 16MP sensor
- 1080 HD video
- 6-8 fps
- ISO range: 100-25600
- 39 AF points

For you Nikon users, is are you excited or looking forward to this new camera? Will you trade up or replace your current camera for it when it becomes available? As for when it will be available for actual delivery to consumers, I suspect 3-4 weeks after its announced at the earliest.

Depth of field in photography

Understanding depth of field in photography can be simple to understand in theory, but in practice is usually difficult to master. I must admit, I still mess up, most people think its as simple as shooting wide open, as much as your lens allows. But this is not necessarily the case.

Shooting wide open does not necessarily guarantee your subject to be sharp, there are many variables. Things such as distance from you and your subject, are you using a zoom lens and at what mm are you shooting?

A good example can be found in the picture on your left. I shot this using a Nikon 80-200mm AFD 2.8 lens at 155mm wide open at 2.8 with a shutter speed of 1/1000 sec. I don’t recall the distance I was from her, but if you click on the image and enlarge it, you will see that her nose is the sharpest point of the image. By shooting wide open at 2.8, the dept of field was too shallow to have all of her sharp in focus. Her face is sharp, but most of her hair, necklace and ears are not.

In this particular case a wide open 2.8 aperture setting was over kill in my opinion. Yes, its nice to have the ability to shoot at 2.8 at 155mm, but I could have shot it at 5.6 and still have blurred out the background since it was so far away. So you can see how its not how expensive a lens costs, but the ability of the photographer to produce good or better images. For this one, I believe it is a good picture, but could have been a lot better. Hope this sheds some light in understanding depth of field in photography for you. Happy shooting!

I photographed this lovely lady at this park and used a simple park bench as my main setting. A feisty and very intelligent woman, she was so energetic that the couple of hours we shot felt like only like a few minutes.

Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, when I took a different model to this location I noticed the park had placed signs around the entrances stating that no “professional” photography would be allowed without a permit. In fact a security guard came to us after our shoot and told me that in the future they may not allow me to shoot there “because of the type of camera” I had. I never take any reflectors, external lights or anything, but I guess its all up to the park rangers to determine if its “professional” or not. No worries, I can shoot with my Canon PowerShot G11 10MP and get similar results!

Don't be afraid to add some color to your pictures and home!

Don’t be afraid to add some color to your pictures and home! I received an email from a reader who asked for ideas about where to shoot models where he didn’t have to ask for permission or pay for permits, but gave him the privacy to shoot at his pace. My answer: your own home!

If you have a backyard with at least some privacy from your neighbors, that’s the best place to start. If its messy or dirty, then fix it up and make it look nice, paint your home, doors, add planters and flowers. You may be doing it for the shoot but you’ll also enjoy some great barbecues with friends and family throughout the year. It doesn’t need to be elaborate or a large space, but I do suggest you add color. Try shooting next to solid colors and have your model add an additional color with her outfit.

The picture on the left is a good example. Taken in the backyard, the side of the house was a basic white and the door and trim a solid green. A simple yellow skirt added that additional color that made this picture a little more interesting. Oh yeah, the lovely lady also helped!

You can find the Nikon press release here.

Amazon is already taking pre-orders, I’m assuming the camera should start to ship in a few weeks. Price is $349.95. You can get the Green version of Nikon Coolpix S1100pj 14 MP Digital Camera or choose from other colors here Nikon Coolpix S1100pj.

I normally don’t talk so much about a regular point & shoot camera, but if the projector feature turns out to be powerful enough to do what is show in the promo video below, I suspect other makers will start to add this to their line of cameras.

The only rumored announced by Nikon next month is the D90 and D3000 replacements, which may be named the Nikon D95 and D3100 respectively, according to NikonRumors.com. I’ve noticed that the price of the D90 has gone back up to its regular price in the mid $850 and has not dropped to its low earlier in the year of $745. This tells me they were trying to liquidate their supply and the few that are left are being listed now at regular price. With Nikon, this normally happens a few months before they are about to release a new camera model.

But who knows, we may have to wait longer. For those waiting for a Nikon D700s to be announced or released, you may need to hold on a little longer. In the meantime, look at this pretty woman to calm your excitement!

My tank loves pretty women!

My little tank gets around and it prefers pretty women!

The Sherman M4A3 tank is not as beat up as in other pictures I’ve shared. When I photograph a model, a collectible toy or anything, I always try different methods to tell a story. After all isn’t that what photography is all about?

Even regular snapshots tell a story. After all, this image was taken at the park, with only a bamboo mat, camera and a diecast collectible toy tank…oh and a very pretty woman didn’t hurt either! Its not the best one in the batch, others were better, but it was good enough to share. If you’re like me, I may take several images but only use/share one of them.

Look at some of your pictures, maybe they didn’t seem worth posting at first, but if they tell a story, why not share it with others? They may get a different interpretation than you!

Jump from the pier

Thought I would share something a little different today. While taking a walk at the beach and pier yesterday, I noticed that the local Jr. Lifeguards in training where preparing to jump of the end of the pier. Of course I headed towards the crowd gathering to view the event.

Its a long way down, so for many I’m sure it wasn’t an easy jump. They had people down below ready for any emergencies. You could see the fear on some of the participants. However in the end, all jump successfully and without any problems.

Which one do you like better?

A

B